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4.09 AVERAGE
4.09 AVERAGE
When I first read L.M. Montgomery as a young girl, Emily could never compare with Anne of Green Gables, but as an adult I find Emily more relatable, more likable. This reread was truly enjoyable. So glad I gave Emily a second chance!
Written by L.M. Montgomery, better known as the author of the Anne of Green Gables series, this book for younger readers shows its age. It's SLOW. The relationship Emily had with her father seemed lovely, and I enjoyed seeing her connection to the rest of her family and community progress. At least for most of the characters. The Dean Preacher character is so disturbing to the modern sensibility.
I can't remember a time when I didn't know about Emily and her adventures. It's thanks to my mum for allowing me to read the book as often as I could when I was younger and didn't have my own copy.
In saying that, I can't stand Dean Priest. And can someone please tell me how you pronounce "Ilse" ?
In saying that, I can't stand Dean Priest. And can someone please tell me how you pronounce "Ilse" ?
Many things that I didn't like but so many others so good that I still hold the love for L.M.Montgomery and probably do it my whole life
emotional
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I liked this, but not as much as Anne of Green Gables. It would have been a four-star read if it hadn't been for the exceptionally creepy scene where a 36-year-old man decides about a 12-year-old that he's going to marry her when she's older, and then strikes up a close friendship with said twelve-year-old. I guess our sensibilities about such things have changed since the 1920s.
*Potential Spoilers*
I so enjoyed it! I was slow to warm up at first, as I was always comparing her to Anne with an e, and was almost halfway through the book that I started to love the story (ch 18, her visit with Fr. Cassidy, which for me felt oh so familiar).
I liked her relationship with Cousin Jimmy and Aunt Elizabeth. Aunt Laura wasn’t quite fleshed out for me—and Dean Priest made me a bit uneasy, I don’t care how acceptable a 20+ age difference was at that time. But how I loved Ilse and her bad temper, and poor Teddy with the jealous mother! I so want to get the next book to learn what happens to them all! (Right now I’m hoping Perry wins Emily’s heart, but for now, Teddy seems to have it and I liked their inside joke of “toast and bacon and marmalade”)
There were moments I found tiresome—which irked me because I doubt I’d have felt then if I read this properly when I was 12. A bit too much “dramatic irony” when Emily shares something with us that she didn’t get but we do.
Eventually I liked her letters to her father but the visual evidence of her spelling improving over time seemed like a gimmick. I’m being harsh when really it was splendid—her love for her room, the way she cared so about her own opinion of herself, her terrible teacher and broken heart over a friend, and the annoying way adults would try to talk romance and marriage long before she had any interest. —and Aunt Elizabeth apologizing! I didn’t see that coming!
Thank you, LMM, for this portrait of an artist as a young girl in Prince Edward Island!
I so enjoyed it! I was slow to warm up at first, as I was always comparing her to Anne with an e, and was almost halfway through the book that I started to love the story (ch 18, her visit with Fr. Cassidy, which for me felt oh so familiar).
I liked her relationship with Cousin Jimmy and Aunt Elizabeth. Aunt Laura wasn’t quite fleshed out for me—and Dean Priest made me a bit uneasy, I don’t care how acceptable a 20+ age difference was at that time. But how I loved Ilse and her bad temper, and poor Teddy with the jealous mother! I so want to get the next book to learn what happens to them all! (Right now I’m hoping Perry wins Emily’s heart, but for now, Teddy seems to have it and I liked their inside joke of “toast and bacon and marmalade”)
There were moments I found tiresome—which irked me because I doubt I’d have felt then if I read this properly when I was 12. A bit too much “dramatic irony” when Emily shares something with us that she didn’t get but we do.
Eventually I liked her letters to her father but the visual evidence of her spelling improving over time seemed like a gimmick. I’m being harsh when really it was splendid—her love for her room, the way she cared so about her own opinion of herself, her terrible teacher and broken heart over a friend, and the annoying way adults would try to talk romance and marriage long before she had any interest. —and Aunt Elizabeth apologizing! I didn’t see that coming!
Thank you, LMM, for this portrait of an artist as a young girl in Prince Edward Island!
Please read this book if you haven't yet, it's amazing (just like its author).
I loved Anne of Green Gables as a girl and picked up the Emily books for Jasper and me to read "together." I plan on reading to him again when he gets older, but I definitely enjoyed them the first time around!